My birthday just recently passed and with that came a lot of people asking “what do you want for your birthday?” This seems like a simple question yet I have a bit of an impulse control problem so I tend to buy the things I want as soon as I see them, which makes it surprisingly difficult to request reasonable gifts. However, this year I knew just what to ask for…the monthly subscription to A Quarter to Tea! Every time I read about their new teas of the month, my mouth waters and now that they deliver to Canada, I knew it would be the perfect gift.

My first box arrived days ago and everything sounded awesome so today I just grabbed one tea and got brewing. I ended up pulling out the Chocolate Stout Brownies tea, a Temi black tea. The smell of the dry leaf was so fragrant with notes of mouthwatering chocolate while the flowery hops were speckled about. Amazingly, the smell of the dry leaf transfers over to the taste. There is a great does of honey from the base (so much so that I had to double check that I didn’t accidentally grab another tea from the box, Boxty with honey) that quickly melds with the silky chocolate undertones. I can pick up notes of the hops in the scent and it lingers underneath everything in, a bit citrusy, a bit savory, and certainly a seamless transition to the slightly bitter base tea which remains only noticeable in so far that it’s contrast to the other flavors highlights the sweeter and creamier notes present in the mug. The flavors come together perfectly to be both reminiscent of a stout (well the idea of a stout, with less coffee notes and bitterness) and a fudgey brownie, though leaning more towards to brownie side of things.

I am not sure how Lauren at A Quarter to Tea masters these flavors but this is one unique blend. I am quite pleased with this introduction to her monthly subscription boxes and if the teas in the box are anything like this one, I know I will continue to be pleased. This is certainly a birthday gift I will not regret asking for and I look forward to the next few months of boxes that are in store for me.

Hey there! My name is Rachel. I’m a twenty-something from Toronto, Ontario, Canada who loves dogs and has a bit of an obsession with tea. As a child I hated the stuff since all I ever knew was Red Rose (no offense to Red Rose). However, a few years ago that all changed. I was on a diet and desperate for new flavors without adding calories and that’s when I turned to tea. I started off by going to DAVIDsTEA and Teavana for all their dessert-inspired flavors, and since I didn’t know any better, I bought 100 grams each of about twenty-something different teas. This was okay for the teas I liked but for those I didn’t I needed to find some way of getting rid of them.
Enter Steepster.com. This is where I met some incredible tea friends, discovered tea swaps, and learned of so many amazing tea companies. My desire to try all the teas grew and since joining three years ago I have tried over a thousand different teas. I have learned what ingredients I love and I have learned what flavors I don’t like. I determined my go-to brewing method is Western-style with no added milk or sweeteners, though I also enjoy cold brewing, iced teas, teapops, lattes, and smoothies. I have yet to brew gong-fu style but I hope to do so just as soon as I get the proper teaware to do it.
About a year ago, I actually stopped drinking tea but as my stash of over 200 teas started aging I decided I needed to respark my interest. I chose to take a 365 days of tea challenge on Instagram in which I post a new tea picture every day. So far it has been rather successful as I find myself drinking (and buying) more and more tea each day. Plus it enabled CuppaGeek to find me and invite me here to SororiTea Sisters.